The Press., 1887-06-30
TRourTNo I'M VIRGINIA.

TR0UrMG IN VIRGINIA.
 It is conceded by ali who pretend to know anything about it thai the speckled trout found in the mountain streams which flow through the Blue Ridge insit Virginia, is the most delicious table fish i yet discovered, while bis cratic habits fQ and eccentricities entitle him to lconBidera- , ton. In aII essentials he is an anomaly, ffa wholly different and distinct from every known family of the finny tribe. a& sA4i il
 To begin with, he is "real beauty, 2 ,I brown and yellow, sometimes rcd spots, on a dark ground, covering his body. He ss has au enormous mouth, prominent eyes, Q and red fins. Those caught by our anglers in the diminutive brooks of Bedford, Bote- tourt, Amherst, Rockbridge, and eofne other counties in the south-western portion fn. of the state, are usually from six to eight inches in length, but the writer has caught them twenty and twenty-two inches long in even the smallest streams. Such suca c sss, however, is very rare. s4t
 Whatever may be the habits of the trout ai |. in other waters, it was long since demon- strated that here he was rarely caught where the water is deep. He prefers to sport in the foanning torrent and the ehnl- low ripples, where the crystal stream flows with greatest rapidity and where, in many instances, the water is barely deep enough to cover his back. The reason for this is of easy solution. The over-grown fish take possession of the deep, dark and dcnsely shaded locations, and live at ease upon the spawn of little fishes, paying no attention to the tempting bait held out by the fish-ls erman. This conclusion is the more reaBl q enable, when the wonderful rapidity with a. which thekF numbers are increasing fs con- igr sidered. They spawn almost every month, 'e in the year, and one single fish wiibprobal ha bly, produce one million of egRss1 lf tgH1flo
 The experienced fnountaineet wio'has f~sg good success one day would not 4hinknof attempting the experiment. the next for he knows that the trout does not sbitesat J hook two days m succession, with exls ceptions so rare as to establish the rule we have indicated Neither will he attempt it if the wind blows from tho east or durs'rp ing thunder storm. f afHlns1
 The amateur who, without assistance, expects success inf his first attempts at this rare sport is doomed to disappointment f He will probably lose oneormore hooks and uFs lines, get ducking in ice-cold watery fun Ip. the gauntlet between rattlesnakes aud oop-yts perheads on the one side, and tho danger of having his neck broken in climbing over the precipitous bluffs overhanging ssi the roaring cataracts, where he will not azE unfrequently be compelled to make htslfsl slow and dangerous way by crawling forufny hundreds of yards, by clnging to the stunted ivy and laurel bushes Once in a. while it will be found necessary to cross the stream, which must be done on, slip pery stones, jumping from one to another or resort to "CouRin Sally Dilard's' ex- pedient of wading, When he attempts to a cross an insignificant creek which looks to ls | be five inches deep, and discovers that it is knee-deep and cold as an iceberg, he is both astonished and disgusted,aud wishes himself safe at home again. aNine times in ten he will catch nothing but a cold. l'D9r | The fas4Aitx nffI fIa.h sa ed by strict military rules md regulations, as single illustration will demonstrate. One family may occupy the space 0f a hun- % dred yards, There is always at itlleg ex-Iffi treme lower end of this settlement ailarge Ash, either poised on tho top of U rock or si hidden under it. If the angler surprises 4D and captures him he will then have easy sailing, and may capture all or nearly all, Hs of the community. But shonld the senti. nel become alarmed and dash up the stream, every trout in the family is noti- fed, and the fisherman may as we'll try his luck elsewhere aJt ,l- .Hs
 The trout seems to have an ungoverna. ble propensity to reach the head waters of the stream in which he lives, but rarely puts his ideas into practice until after n rain, when the stream is swollen. Consid- ering that these waters are really no more than a succession of waterfalls, mauy of which are from fifteen to thirty feet in kr perpendicular height, 1t is wonderful that tl they ascend them, but they do. The writer has watched trout make as many as many as twenty attempts to "go up. higher, and never knew one to fail They jump first as far as possible, and if the top of the fall is not reached they are carried downward only to make the second at. tempt. If the object cannot be attained in the water, they jump over and above it. The trout is the most willy fish in our waters. The least noise will frighten him for a day, and when alarmed he would starve rather than nibble at the tempting bait. The successful anglers in our streams usually provide themselves with light pole, from twelve Co fifteen feet long, with a line as nearly colorless as possible There should be either a very light lead sinker or none at all In fact, a sinker is a disadvantage, as the fish frequently Lump out of the water to take the bait But the angler should never make the mistake of running his line up stream, for the trout knows that the food he lives on floats down stream. Minnows, earth worms, crickets, grasshoppers, or piece of red flannel will, in the hands of an ex- pert, return equally favorable results. We have known a mountain boy to catch as many as 100 in day with a single piece of red flannel so arranged as to hide the hook. .-Ly'ich6urg "a. correspondence of the Baltimore American, r...